AFL Carlton v North Melbourne: Tom De Koning on Xerri grudge match

Carlton star Tom De Koning says he used his injuries suffered against Tristan Xerri last year as motivation for his strong performance as he gave the latest on his contract situation.

Carlton star Tom De Koning says he used his nasty injuries suffered against Tristan Xerri last year as motivation to help orchestrate the Blues’ centre-bounce masterclass on Good Friday.

De Koning came away from his previous ruck battle against Xerri needing separate operations on a collapsed lung and broken foot which derailed the end of his 2024 campaign.

Both incidents were unintentional – Xerri trod on De Koning’s foot in the first quarter and accidentally fell on top of him following a heavy tackle in the third quarter of the round 19 clash.

But Xerri was hellbent on using his extra size to his advantage against De Koning, and while the Blues emerged from the bruising affair with a 19-point win, their ruckman was far from happy.

Tom De Koning and Tristan Xerri battled it out on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

He bounced back on Good Friday, beaten in the hit-outs 43-24 but regularly putting his own to the advantage of George Hewett and Adam Cerra as the Blues piled on the pain in an 82-point thumping.

“You’ve always got a long memory … a bit of a disappointing game last year, we still got the win but obviously I came down with a few injuries,” De Koning told this masthead after the game.

“I think every week you go out there expecting a lot of contact there in the ruck. If you’re worried about it, that’s probably when you’re going to get injured.

“I just go in there with confidence and know that my strengths can match it with anyone.

“My main focus is just coming in with a plan and execute it, and lucky enough we were able to win the clearance battle pretty well, and that’s my job – being reliable and having connection with the mids.”

De Koning rises over Xerri. Picture: Getty Images

De Koning, 25, would not be drawn on questions about his free agent status as St Kilda continues efforts to lure him from Princes Park, but he said “wins like this are amazing” for the atmosphere at Carlton.

“It gives us a lot of confidence. We’ve got some absolute bulls in there with that ball-winning ability, so when we have that on show, that’s when we play our best footy,” he said.

“It was good to see those boys get to work, and lots of centre-bounce goals, which makes it fun, a bit less running.

“(Where I play beyond this year is a dialogue between my manager and the club, I think it’s something I’m not putting a time frame on, but wins like this are amazing.

“I absolutely love the group I’m playing with. It’s good to start getting a bit more confidence with these two wins, and hopefully our momentum continues.”

‘LONG MEMORY’: TDK OPENS UP ON XERRI GRUDGE MATCH

North Melbourne fans thought they could see a light at the end of the tunnel when the Roos came back after their mid-season bye nine months ago and threw the kitchen sink at the competition.

After a nightmare Good Friday humiliation to the tune of 82 points, those fans have just witnessed one of the club’s worst four-week periods since it embarked on that ill-fated rebuild — and that’s saying something, when there are only 16 wins to show from the past 113 games.

Carlton might have its mojo back, but pundits will not be certain for at least another game because with each week, the Kangaroos are looking increasingly lost.

Carlton destroyed North Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

How is a midfield stacked with high draft picks and with the added muscle and experience of Luke Parker getting comprehensively smashed on an afternoon when Patrick Cripps is far below his best?

That Tristan Xerri is far from 100 per cent fit does not help, but the Roos’ on-ball disharmony was clear from the first bounce as the Blues went on to win seven of the first eight centre clearances.

Until early in the third quarter, George Hewett and Adam Cerra had more clearances between them than every Kangaroos midfielder combined.

George Hewett snaps the Blues' third-straight ... but this was a cruel bounce for Charlie Comben! 🫣

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A loss here makes it 16 wins from North’s last 113 games.

That’s a win percentage of 14% over five and a quarter seasons.

It’s tough out here as a Roos fan. 😳 #AFLNorthBlues

— Matt Hickey (@mhickey23) April 18, 2025

There were raucous cheers for George Wardlaw when he ran out for the first time this season at the 10-minute mark of the first quarter.

Wardlaw bowled through contest after contest for the next 10 minutes like an off-leash labrador at a picnic, and for a moment the excitement was palpable.

It is possible no player in the game is better below their knees than the 20-year-old already is, and his confidence in his body to scoop up ground balls at full speed would be pleasing for the Roos.

George Wardlaw was one of few positives. Picture: Michael Klein

But where was the help? His great mate Harry Sheezel is in the midst of a dip in confidence and could not find space to kick.

Luke Davies-Uniacke was unable to impact stoppages when there was still a game there to be won, and Parker, Tom Powell and Jy Simpkin all had quiet patches when the Roos were screaming out for consistency at the coalface.

At the end of the first quarter they had conceded five goals of seven goals from stoppages, and ended up coughing up 77 points from the source for the game.

That is a yield the Blues’ midfield could hardly have dreamt of after their torrid first four games.

Herald Sun columnist Mick McGuane noted this week that the Roos’ on-ball brigade is stacked full of ball-hunters. All were junior stars, used to winning first possession at the contest.

Do they need to “park their egos at the door”, as Melbourne asked its midfield of Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw to do before they tidied up their act and went on to win the 2021 flag?

Does Sheezel or Powell need to switch to a full-time defensive role for the benefit of the team, which has one great ball-user in Caleb Daniel behind the ball but is consequently lacking in leg speed?

Will Phillips was subbed out before the fun began against Melbourne in round 2, but he and other fringe players will grow impatient if Alastair Clarkson does not send a strong message at the selection table this week.

The North Melbourne coach says he still loves his job despite conceding the Kangaroos’ resurgence is taking longer than he would like.

“I love the challenge of coaching, it’s difficult, but an old coach used to say to me ‘if it was easy, everyone would be doing it’,” he said.

“It is a really tough caper and yeah we’ve put some things in place at our footy club that we think are building blocks to have our head in the right direction.

“It’s just slower than we all want, really, I have also seen it turn around really quickly too, so that’s the disappointing part of today.”

Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Collingwood await in the next five weeks and will currently be licking their lips at the prospect of feasting on a lost and uncommitted team.

Where to next for Clarko? Getty Images

MATCH REPORT: BLUES DEMOLISH ROOS

- Tyler Lewis

Carlton is back within reach of the top eight after dismantling a disappointing North Melbourne in the annual Good Friday SuperClash at Marvel Stadium.

The Blues seemingly let the Kangaroos back in the game with a sluggish second quarter but flicked the switch during a rampaging third and fourth.

Carlton fired off 15 goals to five after half time to thump the Roos to the tune of 82 points.

Carlton coach Michael Voss labelled the Blues’ thrashing of North Melbourne on Friday afternoon his side’s “most compelling” performance of the season.

“There was a bit in it, it was really pleasing to see, that’s our most consistent performance, no doubt about that, the most compelling one we’ve played,” he said.

“I think mainly because, yeah Charlie (Curnow) kicked his goals, but there was a spread of forwards who were able to hit the scoreboard.

“Probably not just the fact they were able to hit the scoreboard, it was the fact they just bought into their jobs and brought an enormous amount of pressure.

“I felt like our pressure across the whole night, we just really dialled it up – every ball they got we were able to put big pressure on it.

“In the end, you hope that overwhelms a team, but we were really consistent in that as well as our selfless nature and the way we played – they’re continual things we want to be known for.”

Dual Coleman Medallist Charlie Curnow failed to make the most of his chances but still kicked four goals while the Blues’ brigade of small forwards dined out at his feet.

Carlton captain Patrick Cripps didn’t have his biggest day but he didn’t need to, as George Hewett and Adam Cerra ran amok in the middle of the ground.

It was just the third time the Blues have kicked a score in excess of 150 points since 2013.

George Hewett was best on ground for the Blues. Picture: Getty Images

FILLING UP

Carlton midfielder George Hewett stuffed the stat sheet in a brilliant first half.

Hewett went into the main break with 21 disposals (12 contested), nine clearances, five inside 50s and six tackles.

The ball-winner almost pipped North Melbourne in the clearance count at half time – trailing the Kangaroos by just four.

MOTLOP ... ALMOST

If there was still a Toyota on offer for Mark of the Year – Jesse Motlop would have ‘dropped the car’.

Motlop launched and got the perfect sit across the shoulders of North Melbourne defender Charlie Comben, but was unable to bring down what would have been the frontrunner for Mark of the Year.

“That would have been huge,” Richmond champion Matthew Richardson told Channel 7.

WELCOME BACK, GEORGE

North Melbourne young bull George Wardlaw wasted no time in his return from injury, displaying his ferocious attack on the footy in a terrific first game of 2025.

Wardlaw sustained a high-grade hamstring tear during the pre-season before being forced to build his fitness with the VFL side across the past two weeks.

Coach Alastair Clarkson said during the week he could and would manage Wardlaw’s minutes on the ground, but couldn’t slow the gun’s appetite for the contest.

Wardlaw had six possessions – each of them contested – in the first quarter before a 10-disposal second term.

He was eventually one of North Melbourne’s best, finishing with 21 disposals and a goal.

How about this from Patrick Cripps on the left?! 🔥

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CRIPPA’S ‘SUPER FINISH’

Carlton superstar Patrick Cripps nailed his audition as a part-time forward in the absence of Harry McKay and Brodie Kemp.

Cripps rested deep inside 50 at times in the first quarter and kicked a sensational running goal on his left foot to get his Blues going.

Goal kicking guru Dermott Brereton called it a “super finish” on SEN radio.

SCOREBOARD

NORTH MELBOURNE 2.2 6.3 7.4 11.5 (71)

CARLTON 7.3 9.5 15.6 24.9 (153)

GOALS

Kangaroos: Curtis 3, Parker 2, Larkey, Zurhaar, Wardlaw, Duursma, Konstanty, Powell

Blues: Curnow 4, Williams 4, Motlop 3, White 3, Durdin 2, Lord 2, Cripps, Young, De Koning, Acres, Cerra, Hewett

BEST

Kangaroos: Wardlaw, Parker, Curtis, Xerri

Blues: Hewett, Cerra, Williams, McGovern

INJURIES

Kangaroos: Fisher (hamstring)

Blues: nil.

CROWD: 46, 373 at Marvel Stadium

TYLER LEWIS’S VOTES

3 George Hewett (Carlton)

2 Adam Cerra (Carlton)

1 Mitch McGovern (Carlton)